Smiling Irish Eyes
by rainbow.severus
Summary: This is a holiday themed one-shot challenge put forth by my FB group, namely Tiff. Steph finds a new relationship starting on St. Patrick's day. THIS STORY IS NOT A BABE NOR A CUPCAKE, IT IS A TART! If that offends you, please look elsewhere. Thank-you to those who read and review in advance. Rain :-)


A/N : Just a little something I came up with for a challenge from my FB group, namely Tiff. Hope it lives up to what you desired Babe! This story is NOT a babe, nor a cupcake, this story is a TART! So if you can't see Steph with anyone other than Ranger, don't waste your time OR mine by reading and attacking me in a review! :-)

SPOV

I wake up to the insistent beeping of the alarm. I groan out loud and roll over to silence it, slapping down on the snooze button harder than necessary. With great amounts of grumbling I shift myself out of bed and shuffle to the bathroom for my morning routine.

I still haven't gotten used to getting up at the butt-crack of dawn yet. I started working for Rangeman 2 months ago, full-time, so I reluctantly agreed to all of the gym, gun-range, and Bobby's "hell-on-Earth" version of a work-out; which he still seems to think is easy. Ha! If it's more than walking to the freezer for Ben and Jerry's, it's too damn much for me!

Still I agreed to this, so I trudge on. After my shower and shave routine is done, I get dressed in my normal Rangeman uniform for the day; short black t-shirt, cargos, and black CAT boots. I grab my gun from my gun safe (cookie jar) and strap it into the holster on my hip. After making sure it is loaded and all my other equipment is in working order, I lock up my apartment and head off to Rangeman.

I am jamming to Bon Jovi on the radio on the way to work when I remember that today is St. Patrick's day. And here I am with not a stitch of green on, drat! I still have time enough to spare, so I head back upstairs to my apartment to rectify the situation.

I look through my lingerie drawer and come up with a lime green thong, 'this will do nicely', I think to myself. So I strip my cargos back off and pull the tiny pair of undies on. I pull my cargos back on and add my boots again. Then I start to think that the guys may get technical on me and say that they can't see my green and try to pinch me anyway; especially that horn-dog Lester Santos!

I walk over to my jewelry box and rummage through it. I find what I am looking for quickly. I take the emerald stud earrings and place them in my ears, after I take out my gold hoops, of course.

Now that I am dutifully suited up for the special day, I lock back up and head to my POS car again. I crank it over and head to Rangeman once again.

I arrive and fob my way into the underground garage. I climb out of the car and make my way to the elevator and up to 5, waving at the camera and to the guys on monitor duty as the elevator rises.

Of course the first person I had to lay eyes on when I exited the elevator was Les. Shit! Here we go!

"Hey Beautiful, looking good as always." He says as he wiggles his eyebrows in true Santos fashion.

"I always look better than you Santos." I playfully respond as he walks closer to me.

"That's for damn sure!" I hear Cal shout out.

"Ah, you wound me so." Les pouts as he reaches me and gives me a large hug and sloppy wet kiss right on the mouth. I notice most of the Merry Men surrounding us roll their eyes at his antics. Wait, they rolled their eyes, oh no, I broke the Merry Men! I giggle at that.

As Les backs away and loosens his hug on me, I feel him grope and pinch my ass, hard!

"Owwwwww ... dammit Les!" I scold.

"Santos ... mats ... 0600 in the morning!" I hear my new favorite Merry Man and savior say.

"What the hell was that for? Why did you pinch my ass, and so hard too?!" I ask.

"It's St. Patrick's day Beautiful and you are not wearing anything green." Les explains.

"Just because you can't see it, doesn't mean I'm not wearing green Lester!" I inform him.

"Santos, you dumb ass! Can't you see she's wearing green earrings?" Woody inquires in his southern drawl with a smirk on his face showing his single dimple. Yum! He then ambles over and gives me his own hug and kiss on my cheek. "Morning darlin'."

"Morning Cowboy, Happy St. Patrick's day!" I tell him in return. "Now can I get to work without any more harassment from you Santos?" I laugh.

"Sure Beautiful, I have a client meeting in a few anyway. Later."

I sigh heavily as I make my way to my cubby to begin my work for the day. I see when I get there that my inbox is full, nearly all from Rodriguez, of course. Sigh again.

I had just started booting up my computer when my new favorite Merry Man strode over to join me in my cubby.

"Happy St. Patrick's Day Steph." He said as he gave me a light hug and kiss on the cheek.

"You too, and thanks for that. What you did earlier. I can't believe Les still thinks it's OK to try to grope me." I laugh at the end.

"No, he'll never learn. And besides we all have too much fun showing him the errors of his ways on the mats to care if he ever does learn." He chuckles.

"Thanks again, anyway, you seem to enjoy this particular holiday a little too much. I never took you for a leprechaun and rainbow type of guy." I smile with glee.

"Well ... " he starts with a sexy half grin on his face. "Just between us, I am part Irish. My mom's side of the family. My last name is O'Riley, you know."

"No, I didn't know that." I say. "What's the rest?" I timidly ask.

"Stephen Shaun." He offers.

'Wow, a Merry Man offering up personal information voluntarily', I have to mark this day down.

"Well, I'll let you get to work, but first. Will you let me cook you a true Irish St. Patrick's day dinner tonight?" He looks almost apprehensive, but that's not possible, is it?!

"Sure, where?"

"My apartment on 4 OK with you? I get done for the day at 1600 and can have it ready by 1800."

"OK, I'll be done here by 5:00. But I'll want to go by my place first and change out of my uniform and freshen up, so I'll see you about 6:30 then?"

"Sounds good to me, Milis. I'll see you then." He says then turns to walk away. Wait, what did he just call me? I guess I can figure it out later, either that or ask him myself tonight.

I feel great about taking him up on his offer of dinner. I haven't been out on a social date in ages. I broke if off with Joe permanently when he freaked out at my starting to work at Rangeman and couldn't deal with it. I knew that was a lost cause anyway. He wanted to change me.

Ranger was willing to let me fly, but would not fly along beside me. He still adheres to his "no relationships" rule and we both agree we are much better as best friends anyhow. So needless to say, I am consuming a lot more sugar now-a-days; that or attack a random Merry Man at any moment. What scares me the most about that is that it could be Les!

Oh crap! I remind myself that I need to check the break room and hope Ella has left my emergency stash of Tastey Cakes there. Lord knows I need them working around my Merry Men.

I take a break from my searches at lunch, having gotten through two-thirds of them. I refused to do Rodriguez's first, on principle alone, they were mostly his, after all. I did the few for Ranger, Tank, and a couple for Bobby first.

I make my way to the break room to see what Ella has left out for us today and to see if she got rid of my stash too, more importantly.

I check the back of the corner cabinet and sigh in relief when I find my box of Chocolate Juniors. I grab a turkey and swiss, an apple, and a bottle of water out of the fridge too.

I sit down at a table by myself; there are only two other guys in here, both contract workers that I rarely speak to, and begin to eat my lunch. I have just taken my first bite of chocolate bliss when I hear a voice taunting me.

"You know I'm going to have to work you out longer for eating that tomorrow morning right, Bomber?"

"Shove it, Bobby, I need this chocolate!" I tease in return.

Bobby just laughs and grabs his own sandwich with a banana for lunch and walks back out. I guess he's eating in his office today.

I finish up my Tastey Cake, OK so I really ate two, sue me! If you worked around all these hot bodies, you would need chocolate too!

I made my way back to my desk to finish up for the day. I'm getting nervous and excited at the same time as the day draws closer to being over. I spend the first few minutes back in my cubby wondering what I'll wear tonight. Oh well, I'll figure it out when I get home and look through my closet.

Finally the clock on my computer clicks over to 5:00, so I shut it down for the day. I wave and shout goodbye to they guys on the control room floor as I head for the elevator. I give the camera in the corner and the guys watching the monitors my signature finger wave as the elevator takes me down to the garage level.

I haul myself into my vehicle and race to my apartment. I only have just over an hour to get ready. I pull up in my parking lot, quickly shut the car off, race up the stairs, and unlock my door in record time. I re-lock the door in a flash and sprint to the shower.

I shower, shave, exfoliate, and buff my skin with lotion all in less than 30 minutes. Amazing for me! After all that was done, I went to my closet in search of clothes. I wanted to not be dressy, but not jeans and T-shirt casual either.

Finally I spotted the perfect outfit. It consisted of a white skirt in a flowing style and an unusual blouse I had found while shopping with Lula a few weeks ago, so I had not worn it as of yet. The blouse had diagonal stripes in white and shades of green, with clear round sequins scattered all over, and cut outs on the upper arms making the top have a tank-top look to it.

I thought this would be the perfect balance of dressy and casual at the same time. Now for underthings. I looked through my lingerie drawer and picked out a matching lace set in pale green. I quickly dropped my towel and slipped them on. Then dressed in my skirt and blouse. I slid my feet into low-heeled white sandals and deemed myself ready to go.

It was 6:10 so I picked up my purse on my way out the door, after locking it; the guys would call me to the mats if I didn't use the locks, pitiful as they were. I climbed behind the wheel of my car and took off for Haywood.

I pulled into the underground garage, got out, and ambled over to the elevator. I grinned cheekily as I waved at the camera for the guys manning the monitors. The elevator stopped on 4 and I made my way down the hall to unit number 10.

I rapped lightly on the door, barely hitting my knuckles against it for a second before the door was flung open and my new favorite Merry Man was standing before me with a huge smile on his handsome face. He was wearing tan chinos with a crisp white button-up shirt, half of the buttons undone giving me a glorious view of most of his sculpted chest. Drool!

"Just in time, dinner will be ready to be served in 5." He told me playfully as he opened the door further and ushered me inside his private space.

"It smells wonderful, kind of like my mother's cabbage rolls." I replied as I sniffed the air with appreciation and sighing; OK so it was more like a moan than a sigh. Geez!

I looked over at the dining area and saw the table set for a romantic dinner for two. White china dishes with an emerald green trim around the edges and two dark green taper candles in the center, which he was moving to light. There were also two frosted mugs resting above the plates with ... wait, is that green beer?

"Ummmmm ... why is the beer green? Did you let it go bad or something?" I questioned him.

He chuckled lightly then responded. "No, it's just green food coloring, don't worry. I would never give you anything to cause you harm."

I giggled before relieving him. "I was just kidding. I've been to bars before and they do the same thing on St. Patricks day. I just really get a kick out of teasing you guys."

"Is that right? Well, I'm all for teasing, so bring it on my dear!"

I gulped then blushed at his subtle hint of how the evening would end. Did I mind? No! Of course not, hell after a few beers I may just attack him! Down girl. I calmed myself down, some, then changed the subject; stammering a bit at first.

"S-s-so, what smells so heavenly?"

"Sit down and I'll get it all served up and you'll be able to see for yourself."

I nodded and sat my butt down in the chair and waited. He picked up both our plates and carried them to the stove. After plating the food, he placed them down on the table, then dashed back to the oven and removed the bread.

On my plate was corned-beef, cabbage, glazed carrots, and a slice of rye bread. It all smelled so delicious that my stomach let our a huge growl. He laughed as he came back over and sat down, sitting a basket with more bread in the center of the table.

"Let's feed that beast fast."

I maturely stuck my tongue out at him, but still picked up my fork to taste my first mouthful of corned-beef. I moaned loud and long in appreciation. Poor guy looked pained. Oh well, they should be used to it by now. We both then got down to some serious chowing-down.

All through the meal, we talked casually and answered each other's questions. He opened up more than any of the other Merry Men ever had before.

After I finished with what was on my plate, I sat back, nearly stuffed. Hey, I always save room for dessert! As if anticipating the question, he answered quickly.

"Keeping with the green-for-the-day theme, I have pistachio ice cream for dessert."

"Good man, smart." I flirted.

"You know it, milis." He teased back. I couldn't help it, I had to ask. So sue me, I'm curious!

"What was that you called me?"

"Milis, it's Irish. It literally means sweet, but I am using more to mean sweetness or sweetheart." He said with a blush.

"Oh, I like it. It sounds sweet, no pun intended."

"Really?" He asked looking astounded. "Steph, there's something I want to talk to you about. Let me get us some ice cream first though. We can take it to the couch in the living room and talk there if it's OK with you?"

I nodded in agreement and once he started filling the bowls, I relocated to the couch for my dessert and our talk. I was beginning to get a little nervous when he joined me on the couch, passing me my bowl of green creamy goodness.

We both took a few bites before he cleared his throat and started shifting nervously. I guess he got control of his fears because he began to speak.

"Steph, you know I love you right?"

"Yes I do. All of you guys love me like a little sister and I love all you guys too."

"No, not a sisterly love. It's more than that, much more. I am in love with you, have been for a long time now. But what I really wanted to talk to you about is ... well, I want to start dating you. I want to take you out, pamper you, and treat you like the princess I see you as. Please say you will go out with me. We can take things as slow as you want. But I want to try a relationship with you, that is if you want that too. Do you?"

To say I was floored is an understatement. I knew the guys cared about me, my safety mostly I thought, but to think one of them actually saw me as a potential partner astonished me.

"Well, Stephen Shaun O'Riley Junior, your St. Patrick's day wish is about to come true. I would be honored to be your "milis". Let's go for it." I said tenderly.

He sealed our pact by leaning forward and placing a gentle, but firm kiss on my anxiously awaiting lips.

My last coherent thought was, 'Wow, so that's why Irish eyes are smiling!' ###############

A/N : Well that's it for another holiday themed one-shot. What did you think? And who knew the mystery merry man's identity before I finally revealed it? Hehehe

Till next time, ~~~~~~~~~~~~ Rain (Jackie)


End file.
